Behind the Planning of Makan Gathering @ High Society

Since our last makan gathering with our foodie friends at Tiong Bahru in August, Derrick and I didn’t have any concrete plans for the next makan gathering. The idea started only after our food tasting at High Society, MBS. Kennie, who is the executive director of the company, told us that they are very opened to doing events. So we thought, why not try doing it at High Society, something different from our normal hawker makan. And the brave me decided to open it up for everyone!

And it happened. On 3 November 2012, Saturday night!

Planning began on the first week of October, when we met up with Kennie to discuss the outline of the makan gathering. Our aim was to let everyone try as many dishes at the lowest costs. We weren’t sure how the response was going to be like, so we told Kennie we would have at least 30 guests.

Minestrone Soup

Crab Cesar Salad

Within a week, we received the proposal from Kennie, which includes a soup, a main, 4 tasting dishes and a dessert. It was a really good deal. Thanks to the support from our friends, hotel marcom, PR and readers, our guest list exceeded 30 very soon.

I have to stress that the ultimate aim for this makan gathering was for everyone to know each other, for the PR and hotel marcom to know more bloggers at a relaxed environment, and for readers to get to meet their bloggers face-to-face.

When numbers are increasing, we wanted to make the dinner more worth it. So we contacted Faith and thanks to her, we managed to get some sponsorships. We also approached Mouth Restaurant and PARKROYAL on Beach Road, and they have gladly sponsored dining vouchers.

Braised Lamb Shanks with red wine and tomato

Then, we visited High Society to check out the venue, and finalize on the dishes. While we cannot control the quality and taste of the dishes, but we tried our best to make sure that every other things was discussed and went through smoothly. Because we reached more than 60 participants, kind Kennie decided to give us 2 more tasting dishes in each table of 6.

However, the hardest in our planning was seating arrangement because there are requests for A to sit with B, or C don’t want to sit with D etc. We also wanted to have a good mix of people in each table. There was also constant changes in the number of attendees. At one point, we were very afraid that the numbers will drop below 60 because that means we cannot get extra 2 tasting dishes for everyone!

So the big day finally arrived. It was raining and there was a huge traffic jam when Maameemoomoo drove us to High Society. In the end, I only reached at 7pm, which was one hour later than our meeting time and had a huge rush packing the goodie bag.

As we couldn’t find any goodie bags to pack the goodies, Derrick and I decided to fork out money from our own pocket to buy paper bags. Each paper bag costs $1! But half the paper bag was torn and some kaya bottles broke (very sorry!). The staff had to help us clean up the mess immediately.

Duck Confit

But this was not the worse of all. I placed an envelope on each table, collecting the dining fee for that night. Guess what, I misplaced my own table’s envelope. The gang helped me searched high and low for the envelope after the dinner but well, it could not be found. So in the end, Derrick and I shared the dining costs of my table.

Oxtail Stew & Poussin

It was truly an experience and indeed a learning journey for both of us. From brainstorming, to planning, to execution, every mistake we make is a learning journey.

We have heard from some of you regarding the food quality. While we cannot control it, we hope you still had an enjoyable dinner. I am still thankful to High Society for hosting all of us on a Saturday evening, especially Henry, Kennie, Shaharin and Zam. Thank you for helping us to make this event possible, and supporting us in any way you can.

By the way, we don’t earn anything from this gathering. We have to pay for our own share as well. But as I have mentioned, the ultimate aim for this makan gathering was for everyone to meet new friends. We hope the company and laughter made it up for everything else.

Highlights for that night was an instagram food competition where foodies could take a photo of the pork knuckle using their camera phone. The winner would receive complimentary buffet dinner vouchers for 2 at PARKROYAL on Beach Road. Thank you so much Karen and the hotel management for sponsoring.

The criteria was, NO DSLRs or cameras were allowed. Just camera phones. The picture above was taken with my DSLR (I didn’t take part), just to let you have a look at the pork knuckle that day. Challenging, isn’t it?

Everyone who participated included #HSmakan and here are some of the photos.

When the foodies first registered their name, they were each given an ice cream stick to write their name for the lucky draw. Shaharin, the restaurant manager, helped us pick out the 3 lucky winners. The two gentlemen each won a $50 Mouth Restaurant voucher, while the lucky lady won a $100 Mouth Restaurant voucher. CONGRATULATIONS and Thank You Mouth Restaurant!

Of course, all is not possible without the support of everyone. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU very much. We sincerely hope you guys had fun meeting new friends. Your laughter was the best gifts we had that night.

Last but not least, THANK YOU Faith and the sponsors for giving us 60 bottles of Huiji Honey, Gold Kili Coffee & Frezfruta Kaya each! It is now my breakfast! Drink a cup of honey to cleanse the stomach, then spread some kaya on my bread, and have a cup of kopi!

Thank you Maameemoomoo for helping us with drive the goodie bags to High Society. Hope some of you have tried her yummy granola.

We sincerely apologize for some of the torn paper bags and Thank you High Society for giving us free plastic bags!

It was lovely meeting ALL of you that night. Thank you once again for coming. Enjoy the honey, kaya and coffee! 🙂

Maureen

Born into a family of enthusiastic foodies, Maureen has always loved all things culinary, especially the local cuisine here in Singapore. With a life-long fascination with the rapidly evolving food scene in Singapore, she started this website in 2007 to explore and celebrate all types of local Singapore dishes and to share her love of travel and food with the world. With 4 years of experience as a journalist and producer, she has a wealth of experience in food writing, photography and styling.